Christopher Columbus : The Historical Impact Of Christopher Columbus

Throughout recorded human history, authors, leaders, and researchers, have documented the past from many different perspectives, and viewpoints. Not every historian has the same stance on a certain issue, therefore, differences in point of view occur in almost every writing. In the textbook The American Pageant, A People’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart, and Michael Allen, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the reader can see many different perspectives throughout each reading. The infamous explorer known as Christopher Columbus, has been documented in many different ways. Depending on the reading, Columbus has be called everything from a “[...]symbol of the new age of hope”, to an inhuman tyrant who captured Indians and turned them into slaves.

All across the United States, students learn that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and “discovered” North America. This common misconception creates a false narrative for Americans learning about Christopher Columbus’ legacy - and indeed about the country’s early post-European history. When Christopher Columbus came ashore, North America was already inhabited by hundreds of thousands of native peoples so the concept of Christopher Columbus somehow “discovering” what is now the United States of America is inaccurate. He did, however, set off a process of conquering the land and its people for the Western World. He did so through brutal tactics including forced labor, enslavement, violence, and widespread killing.

It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory

“Christopher Columbus Details His First Encounters with Native People” is a journal reflection in which he is reflecting his personal adventure as a traveler. This letter was published in the year of 1493 by Christopher Columbus written to Luis de Sant’ Angel who was known as an administer official who scrutinized Queen Isabella into financing the voyage.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born man that managed to win the favor and funding of the Spanish monarchy. With this funding, Columbus led the most well-known voyage in human history: the voyage to the New World in 1492. This voyage laid the foundation for future colonies and, eventually, many nations in the world. However, this voyage would not have gone past conceptualization if Columbus had not been supported by the Spanish monarchy. While a variety of factors affected the monarchy’s decision, the primary factors were Columbus’ experience in navigation, assistance Columbus received from Jewish supporters, and the capitulations laid out by Columbus himself.

The full measure of Columbus's failure as a colonizer was not yet apparent when he returned to Castile in 1496. Yet by the end of six or seven years of his governorship, with his own, the monarchs', and the settlers' objectives all still unachieved, and Hispaniola suffering an apparently interminable series of rebellions not only by the Indians but by the colonists too, Columbus was to be superseded and disgraced, and shipped home to Spain in chains.1 Overall, Fernandez-Armesto depicted Columbus as an annoyingly eccentric person incapable of succeeding. Although, he discovered the Americas, he failed to be a leader to his crew and the natives. Instead, he was on the lookout for ways of manipulating the motives for profit.

In the book The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov, Todorov brings about an interesting look into the expeditions of Columbus, based on Columbus’ own writings. Initially, one can see Columbus nearly overwhelmed by the beauty of these lands that he has encountered. He creates vivid pictures that stand out in the imagination, colored by a "marvelous" descriptive style. Todorov gives us an interpretation of Columbus’ discovery of America, and the Spaniards’ subsequent conquest, colonization, and destruction of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico and the Caribbean. Tzvetan Todorov examines the beliefs and behavior of the Spanish conquistadors and of the Aztecs.

The Spanish were the first European settlers in the Americas when Christopher Columbus in October 12, 1492 while searching for a new route to Asian Indies, discovered new land. Columbus wrote to the king of Spain telling him that the Americas was kind of heaven, full of thousand of different kind trees, with prosperous land. This letter has helped understand the motives of the Spaniards for colonizing the Americas, the virgin continent, untouched lands, full of gold and precious metals as Columbus described in his letter. Columbus also told King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that the natives we simple, timid people who went about naked and lived simple lives in an environment like that of the Garden of Eden, and that they can also be made Christians. The monarchs saw this as an opportunity to impose their modes of civilization upon this vast population, justifying the colonization of the New World as the white man’s duty. Motivating and accelerating the occupation to the Americas. Since in fact the Spaniard kingdom initial motives to venture out into the oceans were richness and to acquire goods that were rarely available. The Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella were also wanted to establish missionaries to purify and reform.

- Columbus had written this letter to Ferdinand and Isabella as soon as he reached the New World (Americas) in order to portray some of the new findings that he had discovered there.

In “Christopher Columbus ‘Journal 1492” The journal contained explanation of his discovery and exploration. He explain his observations on the native people and how he communicate with them, even though the native and Columbus speak a different language. Continuously, the journal contains Columbus narration of his interactive conversation with the Americans Indians. Also, the natives explain to Columbus that in the other side of the island they were carnivals.

Christopher Columbus is known for being an explorer and is said to have made one of the most important voyages in world history without even wanting to. Something else that is also believed is that he “opened up” the Americas to European nations, which changed the course of American history. Before he went on his voyage though, he was in need of resources. So he asked Portugal, France, Italy among many other countries but they all denied Columbus and thought his statement was incorrect. Columbus’ statement was that he had found a faster way to get to Asia than the Portuguese had, which was going around the continent of Africa. Columbus lived a majority of his life in Spain, so when it came to setting sail for the west, Spain was one of the first nations he asked for funding. Though it took Columbus a little more than a few years to convince a nation to fund his voyage, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand from Spain subsequently granted to endow him in 1492. He would then leave for “Asia” on August 3, 1492. There are many unanswered questions and thoughts on why Spain decided to finally fund Columbus’ voyage, especially since he was an explorer that was born in Italy.

Columbus had much in common with the reigning party of Spain. Both King Aragon V and Queen Isabella were both Roman Catholics. Columbus also shared the same faith. It was this faith that allowed him to commune with the Spanish so easily, because Spain was a predominantly Roman Catholic nation. Columbus went so far as to move there to settle permanently.

Christopher Columbus arrived in a new land, occupied by Indians, that was very distinct and different from their old home. As stated in Columbus' letter to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, the land in the New World was described as beautiful, full of the most fertile farms and fields, and helpful for both pasturage and construction. It consisted of unique species, fruit and supplies which were much needed by the visitors. Columbus knew he was in an outstanding place to make new discoveries and create what could be the next way of life. The Indians greeted the Europeans with kindness and peace. They were full of affection towards the visitors, trading valuable treasures for trifles while Columbus and his crew were convincing them to become Christians and support the King and Queen of

Christopher Columbus’s life was filled with adventures and new beginnings that would leave a remarkable impression throughout history. Born in 1451 in Genoa, Columbus from an early age would become well acclimated to sailing as he began his career aboard a merchant ship and later study mathematics, astronomy, cartography, and navigation. Growing up and experiencing new thing Columbus began to come up with a plan different from all others to set sail across the Atlantic instead of going around the African continent. With his ideas being turned away from both Portugal and England it was Ferdinand and Isabella who took sympathy upon him and financial back his voyage as they both had hopes of gaining fame and fortune. In 1942, Columbus began his voyages and would carefully document each experience in the form of letters that would have a lasting impact on the world. I believe with the dramatic change in tones we see between the first and fourth letters it gives us the reader a true insight into Columbus’s mental and physical emotions over the years. Furthermore, these letters allow us to explore a part of history that is considered monumental while gaining information of what took place over a ten-year journey.

As far as I can recall my existing knowledge from kindergarten to high school, Columbus has always been described as a heroic figure who overcame countless obstacles fearlessly and finally found the “New World.” For a long time, there were numerous authors, poets, and painters praising Columbus’s legendary journey and his extraordinary contribution to mankind. However, after reading “The Discovery of the Bahamas,” the sailing logs written by Columbus, I figured that Columbus may not be such a man who is worthy of all the praises. There are two literary works related to the subjects. The painting, “Christopher Columbus at the royal court of Spain,” was created in 1884 by Václav Brožík, and depicts Columbus requesting, from Queen Isabella, King Ferdinand and groups of courtiers, funding for additional voyages. The poem, “Prayer of Columbus,” written by Walt Whitman in 1874, expresses Columbus’s praise of God for all his achievements, believing that God would still be on his side even though he had been through all the sufferings. While Brožík’s painting creates imagery, directly expressing Columbus’s ambition by his posture, and implied Spaniards’ eagerness of power and building empires with the reactions of Queen Isabella I and Ferdinand V and a gathering of courtiers, Whitman employs repetition and religious iconography to create a sharp contrast between Columbus’s fearless, unconquerable mind in his early life and his helplessness at the end of his last voyage.